Greenland whale hunt 'commercial'

Animal welfare campaigners say Greenland's whaling, held under rules permitting subsistence hunting, has become too commercial in character.

The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) found that a quarter of last year's catch was traded for profit through a private food company. International Whaling Commission (IWC) rules allow hunting where there is a nutritional and cultural need. The IWC annual meeting gets underway next week in Santiago, Chile. WSPA campaigners are presenting their report this week to a preliminary meeting of the organization’s committee on aboriginal (or subsistence) whaling. Greenland has been on the slippery slope towards commercial whaling for years, and now, demonstrably, they've crossed the line," said WSPA's marine mammals manager Claire Bass. "The IWC has heard anecdotally about these processing operations, but this is the first time it's been quantified, so we're expecting it to be explosive," she told.

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Sri Lanka Port Authority to develop land holdings

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority is getting ready to make commercial use of its vast landholdings around the harbours in the island, some of which are now considered prime property.

"We've structured a framework agreement by which we can use the land for public-private partnership projects," SLPA chairman Saliya Wickramasuriya said. "It's now going through policy approval stages." The SLPA intends to offer the land around its harbours to be developed by private sector property developers. The move comes at a time when land prices in the island have been soaring. Wickramasuriya said the SLPA would offer land for investment through the island's investment promotion agency, the Board of Investment. "We will not lease or sell the land but subscribe the land as equity at commercial valuations and SLPA will be a silent partner in private-public ventures." The authority owns around 20 acres of land around the Beira Lake, a water body in the heart of the city connected to Colombo port. The SLPA also has almost 20 acres in the southern Galle harbor and several hundred more in the eastern port of Trincomalee and in southern Hambantota where a new port is being built by Chinese contractors.
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Maritime Capital Partners pushes ahead with IPO

Mark Harris-led Maritime Capital Partners has filed a preliminary prospectus for its IPO with the Monetary Authority of Singapore despite a rocky financial market that has led competitors such as Israeli liner company ZIM to put its $500m listing plans on hold.

The handysize bulker outfit, which owns a fleet of around 14 vessels, is said to be aiming to raise roughly $300m from its initial public offering. Harris, the former boss of Pacific Basin, made his announcement just one day after ZIM pulled its potential Hong Kong IPO ambitions and barely two weeks since Hong Kong's Wah Kwong shelved plans for a return to the local bourse. Harris will, no doubt, be pushing a similar sales pitch to the one that made Pacific Basin such an attractive offering, namely operating in a niche market with a young fleet and limited newbuild berths for handysizes on the horizon.
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Amur shipyard tests nuclear sub 'Schuka'

Russia's Amur shipyard has successful conducted tests for the nuclear submarine 'Schuka'.

The tests of the project 971 were held in the territory of the shipyard. A group of engineering specialists on turbines, refrigerators and high-pressure air systems from Sevmash participated in the tests. The staff from Sevmash plans to visit the Far East shipyard again soon to participate in mooring tests.
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Saudi Arabia to commence five-year marine environment study

The King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals Research Institute and Saudi Aramco has recently commenced a five-year study to monitor the quality of coastal waters in the Arabian Gulf, also known as the Persian Gulf.

The study will focus on major industrial discharge points and seawater intake sites, and will evaluate the impact of pollution on commercial species of fish, invertebrates, seaweed and coral reefs. Besides also studying coastal currents and wave actions, the study program will also serve to update the Gulf's habitat maps, also known as biotope maps.
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